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Tag: edward gallagher
Republican Activist Behind Pardon Bid For Veterans Charged With War Crimes

Republican Activist Behind Pardon Bid For Veterans Charged With War Crimes

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

David “Bull” Gurfein, head of the United American Patriots, is a Republican activist who has been lobbying on behalf of military veterans accused of war crimes — including Edward Gallagher, the U.S. Navy SEAL court-martialed and charged with premeditated murder for allegedly killing a captured member of ISIS in Iraq. The activities of Gurfein and the United American Patriots are the subject of a new Vice News report.

Gurfein has been encouraging the Trump Administration to pardon Gallagher and other veterans accused of war crimes. In an eight-minute video Vice News has posted on Twitter, Gurfein is seen at an event in honor of Derrick Miller — a National Guard member who killed an unarmed Afghan in 2010. Gurfein is seen welcoming Miller after his release on parole following nine years of detention.

Vice News notes that Gurfein is a retired military veteran who enlisted in the U.S. Marines at 17 and went on to fight in the Persian Gulf War as well as in Afghanistan — and that in the year since he took over United American Patriots, the organization “has raised and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending service members accused of crimes in war zones and bringing the cases to the attention of lawmakers with the hopes that they might take them up with President Trump.”

Vice also reports that Gurfein and the United American Patriots have been having some success in lobbying Trump, who in early May, granted clemency to Michael Behenna —a veteran accused of murdering an Iraqi prisoner in 2008.

The video shows Trump, on May 24, declaring that he was “looking at a lot of different pardons for a lot of different people.” But not all military veterans, Vice reports in the video, want to see Trump pardon veterans accused of war crimes.

One of them is attorney Hardy Vieux. Interviewed for Vice’s report, Vieux asserted that granting blanket pardons to veterans accused of war crimes destabilizes military rules and procedures and undermines the military’s integrity. “When the president intervenes,” Vieux told Vice, “it really erodes that good order of discipline.”

In 2016, Gurfein ran for a U.S. House of Representatives seat in New York’s Fourth Congressional District but lost to Democratic incumbent Kathleen Rice.

IMAGE: David Gurfein, Republican activist and executive director of United American Patriots.

Veterans Outraged By Trump Plan To Pardon War Crimes

Veterans Outraged By Trump Plan To Pardon War Crimes

Many veterans are outraged by reports that Trump may pardon military service members who were accused or convicted of war crimes, and argue that Trump’s actions are an insult to those who have served honorably.

On Saturday, the New York Times revealed that Trump may be planning pardons on or around Memorial Day for several military service members who were accused or convicted of cold-blooded murder and other crimes.

“With the exception of actually pissing on graves at Arlington, pardoning war criminals on Memorial Day is as insulting to America’s war dead as you could possibly get,” Brandon Friedman, a writer and entrepreneur who won two bronze stars for his service in Iraq and Afghanistan, said on Saturday.

Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher was accused by his fellow Navy SEALs of using his sniper rifle to kill an unarmed girl in a flower-print hijab, as well as firing a machine gun into civilian neighborhoods with no enemy targets. Army Major Matthew Golsteyn is accused of killing an Afghan man who was already a prisoner, and then working with others to burn the body.

Trump demanded pardon papers for Gallagher, Golsteyn,and other suspected or convicted war criminals to be rushed to him before Memorial Day, according to the Times.

VoteVets, a group dedicated to supporting and electing veterans, said Trump’s actions are “a win for ISIS and our enemies.” 

Veterans serving in Congress were also appalled Trump would consider pardoning war criminals.

“We who’ve served know that killing civilian children, women & seniors makes it harder to secure the peace & is a great recruiting tool for terrorists,” tweeted Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), who served as a JAG officer before becoming a member of Congress.

“I’ll speak loudly and clearly: absolutely no pardons for war crimes,” Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), a former Marine, said on Sunday.

A combat veteran contacted CNN’s Jake Tapper and called Trump’s possible pardons of war criminals “a slap in the face to everyone who fought honorably.”

In reading the statement given to Tapper, Amy McGrath, a veteran who narrowly lost a House election in 2018, added: “Can’t think of anyone I’ve served with who doesn’t feel this way.”

“Our military personnel are brave, patriotic & smart. I’ve tried multiple cases before military juries,” Lieu also said. “They take into account a Member’s service record and demand evidence beyond a reasonable doubt before convicting. I trust military members.”

If Trump pardons war criminals, he is sending a clear message that he doesn’t trust U.S. troops and doesn’t care if atrocities are committed in their names.

Published with permission of The American Independent.